Lessons in life can be learned with sports

Learning about tennis off the court is a long process. With many in the Teche Area having played for generations, the research drew longer and longer lists of comments and referrals, names of players in league and non-league, both public and private, hard or soft courts. Conclusions were not easily forthcoming except the fact that the ones who play the game, loves it.

There is no age limit — players have started as children as well as in their adult years — and the biggest advantage is the social interactions, the bonds that develop over hours of chasing a ball around a court with a racket — and sometimes, a meal afterwards.

One family in the area exemplifies the life advantages of playing tennis beyond the single game, set and match and beyond winning tournaments. They are champions and children of a sport that spans three generations beginning with Pat Lognion Mixon, who played until her knees wanted to retire.

Her son, Dr. Tynes Mixon III and his wife Michelle, have four daughters — 19-year-old twins Heather and Monica, Madeline, a senior at Catholic High School, and Lauren, a sophomore. They are a tennis playing family.

Tynes Mixon loved the game so much that when the weather kept him from his only hobby, he built the only known private indoor court in the area at his home in Jeanerette. They still have an outside court, but on days when the wind or weather are issues, the indoor court is right next door.

Family Play Time

“Tennis is a wonderful sport. Even if you’re not gifted athletically, you can practice and get better,” Tynes Mixon, 52, said. “The United States Tennis Association has done a wonderful thing with its rankings. Even if you’re just picking up a racket, they have leagues now that you can go out and play. You can always find your level to play.”

He began playing at CHS when he was in fourth grade. Brother Ernest LeBlanc was looking for team players believing they should start at an early age. Mixon volunteered. Every day after school they’d practice and Mixon fell in love with the game.

LeBlanc coached the tennis team until he died, first walking, then with a walker and, finally, from a little scooter. He was responsible for many state tennis teams from CHS, Mixon said.

“Years ago the way Tynes introduced us all to tennis was that he offered to teach any kid at Willow Wood Park on the weekend in the summer months for free,” Michelle Mixon said. “All the kids had to do was show up. He’d get his friends to help. Eventually he didn’t have as many volunteers so his sister would be on one court, I’d be on another helping out. At the end he’d have awards in different categories and at each court there was a winner.”

Lauren, the youngest of the four Mixon daughters, plays tennis on the CHS team, as does her older sister Madeline. Monica is a student at Tulane and plays tennis socially but not competitively. Her twin sister, Heather, on the other hand, plays tennis for the University of West Florida in Pensacola. She recently was named Gulf Coast Freshman of the Year and this weekend will be playing at the regional tournament to see if UWF can go to nationals.

Missing Home

Hours after talking about tennis, Tynes Mixon was on his way to Pensacola to cheer on his oldest champion, Heather. As many freshmen experience, she was needing a little support from her father and her personal coach.

“Heather is extremely fast and has a tremendous mind. She can find out where her opponent’s weaknesses are and she is tenacious,” Tynes Mixon said. “She can endure to exploit her opponent’s weaknesses, wearing them down for some good wins.”

Mixon said his daughter had an interesting match earlier this year against a very good player from Auburn. The first set was back and forth. After the first game he asked her how she felt it was going, encouraging her about how well she was playing.

“It’s all going according to plan,” Heather Mixon said to her father. “She got the first set, but she’s not in as good a condition as I am, these next two sets belong to me.”

At 5 feet, 2 inches tall and 108 pounds, Heather can’t hit the ball as hard as some other girls, Tynes Mixon said, but uses her talents in other ways. She beat her Auburn opponent 6-2 and 6-0 in the next sets to win the match.

“Tennis is like a 90 percent mental sport,” Michelle Mixon said.

Heather’s competitive sister, Madeline, has learnedlife lessons through tennis from her parents, evidenced by comments on the mental challenges of the game.

“I wouldn’t be the same person if I hadn’t played tennis,” Madeline Mixon said. “Mostly because of confidence. Being able to do something for so long and being good at it.

“I feel like everything I try to do, I can try really hard and be really good. There is nothing in this world that I won’t be good at with hard work and dedication.”

Molding the Future

Three of the four Mixon daughters will be studying engineering in college next school year. Lauren is still undecided but has plenty of time to make choices that are right for her. If all the girls share the same philosophy as Madeline, the final report on Mixon parenting will be “well done.”

“If you really like tennis, it’s like a job,” Madeline said. “You’re not going to sign up for it just for the money or you’re going to get tired of it. You go to a job because that’s what you enjoy doing. It is the same thing with tennis. Mentally the strategies are the same. If you’re starting to lose, you have to have a good mentality. If you believe you’re going to lose, you’ll lose.

“If you mentally believe ‘I’ve practiced so hard for this, I can do this,’ you have a confidence to win — the better you’ll do. If you don’t have confidence, you’re not going to be able to stroke the ball as well as you did or really play to the best of your ability.”

Madeline said the more one has in common with a group of people the closer they are. She said her father tried to give them all something in common so they would have a greater family bond.

She started playing competitively at age 9 but started playing with the racket at 5, swinging it on the court just to be around her dad.

“I just wanted to spend time with him,” Madeline said.

“Me and Heather started playing together and for our first tournament I was 8 or 9, she was 10. We played in a national tournament.”

Michelle Mixon said the tournament didn’t fill up so anyone could get in. It was not about ranking then, but availability.

“We met with some very good people, but we lost in the early rounds,” Madeline said. “It was just the beginning. I don’t remember ever liking losing.

“I like tournaments a lot. The energy, meeting the people and seeing the better players hit the ball so hard. I love that. So we kept going to tournaments and kept winning more games, more matches and tournaments. I like spending time with my dad, sisters and mom.”

Michelle Mixon said she really likes the players she plays against even though with recent team advancement, their “best of” ranking has become “the worst of,” challenging the group to play harder to continue their development.

“We want to play well, and practice, but we’re mostly there for fun, talking about life, kids, venting and getting advice,” Michelle Mixon said.

Living by example happens both on and off the court.

“I remember when I was about 10 and when mom only had three friends coming to play, I’d be their fourth,” Madeline said. “I remember every break they’d start talking and I’d want to continue playing. Mom said, ‘We’re here to visit, too.’ I was competitive and just wanted to play. But it was fun listening to older women talk about life and their jobs.”

“You don’t have to know how to play, just get started hitting with some friends,” Michelle Mixon said. “It’s all ages and they’re always looking for new people.”

Mental Moment

In keeping with the conversation during National Mental Health month, clinical psychologist Dr. David Landry had this to say about training children to become healthy adults.

“I think it’s important not to pigeon hole a child’s interests but to expose them to different activities and see where their interests take them,” Landry said. “Every child is going to have a natural ability. If you have a passion, you are more interested in putting in the hard work to succeed. With a good work ethic, a child can succeed.”